The sudden and as yet unexplained death of our daughter, Betsey Hughes, has given new focus to our family’s concern over the future of care for the mentally ill in our region.

We have deep concerns about the quality of care, the morale of the caregivers, and the extent of society’s desire to provide mental health care for those in need. All too often, the mentally ill are pushed out of sight and abandoned to a life of either total compliance within a system or isolation in jail or another type of institution. With the present crisis within the state’s economy, resources are disappearing, being fought over by much larger and politically well-organized, worthy advocates for other causes of disability or other diseases.

Support groups for the mentally ill are fighting for their very financial existence. To sustain popular support programs, beleaguered families are being asked to sacrifice beyond their own severely-tested emotional and financial lives dealing with and caring for a family member in the early or advanced stages of mental illness. Support groups can be a godsend for families seeking resources, opportunities to share experiences, as well as ways to find the best available options for treatment and oversight.

It is so critically important to demonstrate to funding agencies and charity organizations that support exists at the private, family level. Those whose loved ones become affected by the ravages of mental illness appear to be the last to understand or come to grips with the need for solidarity in the support of individuals whose sprained or broken minds require more treatment than a visible cast on a broken arm or a bandage covering a surgically repaired body part.

Betsey, with the help of her extended family community, was among the lucky ones who discovered and experienced the right mix of public accommodation and family support. Her quality of life was reasonably good, once the diagnosis of schizophrenia was addressed, the right medications were finally made available, and a loving family and community accepted Betsey’s struggle as one of theirs. For more than 30 of her 49 years, Betsey lived as a client of the mental health system at Keystone Resource Center in Seattle and later was able to live reasonably independently at the publicly-supported Albion “independent living” apartments on the grounds of Keystone. Advocacy groups helped our family throughout this journey.

The outpouring of friendship and love at her memorial service in early December was a testament to how a member of the community with a mental illness can not only survive, but also make the best of a disability, bringing meaning to her own life, as well as to those around her.

It is our family’s plan to establish the Betsey Hughes Memorial Advocacy Fund as a support for the important network of advocacy organizations operating in greater Seattle. Its purpose will be to fund advocacy opportunities in the areas of awareness education, the judicial and criminal justice systems, and in matters of legislation at all levels that will influence or provide needed attention to those with issues relating to chronic mental illness. More than 60 of Betsey’s friends have already sent remembrances for this fund.

We invite readers to contribute to this important work and to our new, directed fund opportunity.

We also challenge the mental-health bureaucracy to make every effort to support those everyday “saints” at the caregiver level who demonstrate the patience and love required to help the mentally ill as they face the daunting rigors of their daily lives — so foreign to those of us not afflicted with chronic mental incapacities. Above all, in the scramble for resources, we cannot let protection of mental-health bureaucracy overwhelm the need for supervised housing and appreciation of well-trained, adequately compensated and duly respected staff members who are engaged in daily contact with clients.

After a happy first 15 years of her life in Bothell, Betsey lived with schizophrenia for 34 of her 49 years. At its onset, none of us knew what to do or what might lie ahead. As a family, we learned of the impact of this devastating illness through a life-saving organization called Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill (WAMI)(now NAMI).

It has been a godsend for so many families faced with searching for answers as to how to help a loved one cope as an individual and within their family. It is an exhausting, frustrating experience at best. Contributions to the Betsey Memorial Advocacy Fund may be sent to P.O. Box 173, Bothell, WA 98041. Future proceeds and ongoing donations will be used to help other clients and families together find ways to face the topsy-turvy world that exists for them.

John B. Hughes was owner-publisher of the Northshore Citizen from 1961 to 1988 and is active in local nonprofit organizations.